Nope, you didn't understand it. The contacts we're concerned with
aren't on the hot shoe but rather on the flash. The power to do the
triggering comes from the flash unit itself. The hotshoe simply
provides an electrical conduit into the camera and leads to an internal
switch. The camera closes the switch but the flash provides the juice.
Since the camera side is simply a switch there's nothing to measure.
In older cameras like the OM-1 the switch contacts were literally
mechanical... two pieces of metal make contact just like the light
switch on the wall. If a flash unit had 250 volts on its triggering
contacts, no problem. As the electronics revolution progressed these
camera switches became solid state electronic switches. And many of
them could and can be turned into toast by that high voltage.
Unfortunately there's no way we can measure the capability of the camera
to withstand high trigger voltages. We're dependent on the
manufacturer to release the specs. If Oly has done so I don't know
where to find it. Canon and Minolta have done so but Canon has only
lately gotten religion... now that they can report 250 volts instead of 6.
Chuck Norcutt
Tim Randles wrote:
> if I understand this right, I should be able to take a meter reading of the
> voltage off the hotshoe?
>
> Chuck Norcutt <chucknorcutt@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: Meaure what?
>
> Chuck Norcutt
>
>
> Tim Randles wrote:
>
>
>>I'll get the meter out of the shop this morning sometime, and measure it and
>>post results..
>>
>>Cheers.. Tim
>
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